FRACT is a musical exploration game. You arrive in a forgotten place and explore the vast and unfamiliar landscape to discover the secrets of a world built on sound. You rebuild its machinery by solving puzzles and bring the world back to life by shaping sound and creating music in the game.

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Reviews

“FRACT OSC is one of the best original games released on Steam in a long time. It is abundantly clear that it has been created by a team that shares an equal passion for both music and games, and its unique concept and gorgeous, vibrant world deserve to be explored by as many people possible. If you’re in ownership of functioning eyes and ears, then you owe it to yourself to play this game.”
9/10 – Game Revolution

“When you succeed and the final piece of the puzzle slots into place, your reward isn’t a text backslap, achievement popup or skill point, but a drop. Beats and bass crash in as the record you’ve been piecing together reaches a crescendo. It’s like having Boards Of Canada noodling away behind you as you work on the world’s hardest jigsaw puzzle and both of you having two very different eureka moments at the same time.”
8/10 – Edge

“If [HP Lovecraft] had been a coder rather than a writer and had been into Autechre and Aphex Twin rather than gross racism, I can't help thinking this is the sort of game he would have come up with . . . Like all great interactive experiences, this is a game that happens almost entirely in your own head, an ongoing internal narrative that pushes and pulls between questions of how and why that are never given an easy resolution.”
8/10 – Eurogamer

About This Game

FRACT is a musical exploration game. You arrive in a forgotten place and explore the vast and unfamiliar landscape to discover the secrets of an abandoned world that was once built on sound. As you start to make sense of this strange new environment, you work to rebuild its machinery by solving puzzles and bring the world back to life by shaping sound and creating music within the game.

FRACT features a beautiful open world to explore and decipher with music-based puzzles, stunning visuals, and an amazing score that evolves as you play. As you progress through the game, you unlock tools to make your own music in the FRACT studio, where you can also export and share your creations with others.

Standing within its world of organic sound and breathing architecture, I often found myself unconsciously freezing in place as a dormant level stirred at my approach, erupting into an awe-inspiring display or neon lights and blaring synths that sent goosebumps down my neck. I’d drift into obscure corners and onto meaningless ledges just to see what was there, being astonished at even the smallest piece of a world that seemed impossibly connected and alive.

Playing Fract made me feel alive in a way I haven’t experienced in a very long time. There’s so much energy in the air, twisting its way through structures and along the ground to create a world that feels as if it’s constantly in motion, adjusting and changing as so many wondrous sound bellow through the caverns. Fract isn’t just a giant synthesizer, it’s raw emotion flowing through bass lines and echoing synths that shakes the very floor you’re walking on. Every structure is its own sound, adding notes to the beautifully coordinated melody that grew with every step I took and machine I set in motion.

Fract provides almost zero assistance in helping you solve its humongous musical contraptions, but the way in which each puzzle builds off the last creates a persistent logic that grows with you as you begin to understand it more. Each object is introduced slowly enough to allow you to learn how to interact with it, but Fract never wastes time repeating itself. Instead it seamlessly folds areas and elements into each other so I was always learning something new even when I didn’t realize it, each puzzle pushing me just enough to feel stimulating but never overwhelming. You can almost feel Fract diligently holding itself back, clearly capable of so much more but always hyper aware of what constitutes “enough” as it cleanly bypasses the excess of many puzzle games with its extraordinarily tight pacing.

Being at the center of all this noise, attempting to conduct instruments I had barely begun to understand, I was struck by how small and powerless I was when compared to the monstrous amplifiers all around me. Even as I was helping to revive a world which had gone to sleep, I couldn’t shake how immensely alone I felt. All around me were unbelievable sights moving to a soundtrack that was itself alive within these walls, but there was no one to share it with; not a single soul anywhere to be found in this isolating cavern.

The feelings Fract created in me were powerful and complicated. The wonders of its design contrasted with the crushing emptiness I found growing within me the more I played. It filled me with amazement and yet all I wanted to do was cry. What was the point of any of this if it meant spending an eternity in solitude?

Fract OSC is everything I expected it to be: clever, gorgeous, innovative, inspired. But I wasn’t prepared for how it would affect me on a deeper level. Without even meaning to I was suddenly examining parts of me I couldn’t make sense of; things I didn’t want to acknowledge or feel comfortable sharing here. It’s an incredible game for so many reasons I’ve sold short here, yet somehow it’s the things I couldn’t see or hear that meant the most.

I was really worried booting this game. I expected some really obtuse puzzles and I was afraid that after The Fall and Kairo, this will be another game that may be ruined by this aspect. Other than that, 3D Exploration games have really bad reputation recently. Fract OST shows that this genre can have some pretty nice games.

Firstly, the world of Fract OST is very immersive. Ambient atmosphere is really strong in this open-world hub that you are challenged to explore and solve. It was a bit overwhelming at first, but after a bit getting used to, the exploration of this strange world was a pure joy. it's obvious that devs really tried to win you over with this part of the game. You get achievements for discovering some particularly interesting and optional spots in on the map, which feels really rewarding and it's sign of the far greater design choices that constructed this strange world of synthesized music.

Puzzles are not all that great, but they for the most part very straight-forward. They rarely vary in types, but this lets you focus more on exploration that searching thought Steam Guides which is all great by my book. Those still are good enough for enforcing that feel of reanimating an ancient machinery that was broken for hundreds of years. In conclusion, puzzles are not amazing, but they don't break an immersion by any means.

Overall, Fract OST is a solid proposition for players loving exploration. There isn't any grand backstory, plot or anything like that to discover and yet it was a pleasure to be there in this place. If you don't like Walking Simulators, then I'm not sure if it will change your opinion about the genre, but it's worth a shot. Fract OST, in opposition to other "famous" similar games, have a genuine challenge and you won't be handholded.

FRACT may actually offer the greatest sense of gratification for each puzzle solved!

Other First Person Experience games, especially in the FPX Puzzle genre, generally provide separate, individual bursts of accomplishment; you solve a puzzle then move on to the next. FRACT, however, cleverly reminds you, as you travel throughout the world and catch glimpses of or hear the distant audio from areas you've previously returned power to, that each and every accomplishment is building to something... well, something super cool indeed!

Visually appealing and sounds great.Some of the puzzles were really obtuse, and I went through the entire game without ever really figuring out what I was supposed to do.Overall it's a pretty fun game.